Mike Gundy is showing the world his goofy side

STILLWATER — Justin Phillips thought his coach was trying to make a joke about the officials. Justice Hill suspected the picture had been photoshopped. Dillon Stoner was just glad to see the black-and-white shirt instead of a painted-up chest.

Then again, that wouldn’t have been a shock.

“There’s really not any surprises anymore,” Stoner said with a laugh.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy wore a referee’s shirt Monday at his weekly press conference— striped shirt, stripe the stadium, get it?— and it didn’t seem out of the ordinary at all.

Quirky has become the norm with Gundy.

As Boise State comes to town for a top-25 showdown, thisis a match-up of relatively new money. Both programs have made themselves into forces to be reckoned with, winning lots of games and turning tons of heads over the past decade-plus. But both have drawn attention along the way for zigging when everyone else zags.

Boise State has blue turf.

OSU has Mike Gundy. “Honestly, you never know what that dude’s gonna do,” said Phillips, the senior linebacker. “He’s always up to something.”

In the past two years alone, Gundy and goofy have become synonymous. He showed up to a Signing Day press conference with a “BIG DADDY” mug. Fronted a promo for OSU wrestling wearing an orange singlet. Took off his shirt during Homecoming and Hoops inside a packed Gallagher-Iba. Recorded a tribute video for Bob Stoops retirement complete with camo, “snake boots” and another shirtless moment.

This season has been more of the same.

Gundy has brought his dog, Kenzie, to Monday press conferences. Then, after the Cowboys’ game last Saturday, he professed his love for his fantastic postgame smoothie. Then came Monday. Gundy walked into his press conference in a gray sweatshirt with a giant wet spot on the front. He looked at it, then at the assembled crowd as if it had just dawned on him that it might not be a good idea to wear a stained shirt in front of people with cameras.

“I spilled my dang smoothie,” he said.

(Was anyone else wondering in that moment if the whole smoothie thing after South Alabama was just a set-up?)

Gundy looked at his stained sweatshirt again.

“Look at that,” he said. “That’s bad. Gosh.”

(Our man Nathan Ruiz had a great question after the fact— who really “spilled” on Gundy? An office assistant artfully dribbling water on him? A PR person? Or dida man making millions of dollars a year find himself in the bathroom splashing water on himself?)

Gundy removed his sweatshirt, and as he was starting to fold it up, it was again as if something else just dawned on him — he was wearing a referee shirt.

“Oh, I forgot,” he said, not at all convincing but totally funny. “Hey, you know what? It’s stripe the stadium for this game.”

Hey, he’s a football coach, not an actor.

Talk to those inside the program, and they’ll say Gundy has always shown a fun-loving side behind closed doors. And since he was known as a shoot-from-the-hip player and assistant, that’s not surprising.

But letting the whole world see it on a more regular basis is a change.

It says two things: Gundy is secure, and he’s all in on OSU.

OSU isn’t a flash in the pan. Since the start of the 2008 season, the Cowboys have won 98 games and had six double-digit-win seasons. They have staked a claim as the second-best program in the Big 12, a lofty spot that seemed nearly unattainable when Gundy took over.

“Just being a successful coach,” Phillips said, “he’s able to be a little more free and joke around a little more.”

True, but it goes beyond that. Even though Gundy has played footsie with suitors nearly every offseason for a decade, he wouldn’t be taking chances with his brand if he wasn’t sold on OSU. As a program. As an employer. As a place he wants to be for a long time.

College football coaches are straight arrows for the most part. CEOs of multi-million dollar machines. Kings of their gridiron domains.

Breaking from that mold isn’t often done.

But in the name of getting exposure for the Cowboys, Gundy has busted the mold, dressed it in weird clothes and even put a mullet on it.

“I’d rather that, ”said Hill, the Cowboys’ star running back, “than just a boring coach for sure.” Boring, Gundy is not. Ditto for his program.